Mathias said Silva’s hire speaks to the firm’s commitment to growing its social marketing sector.

Most recently, Silva served as SVP and line of business lead for energy communications at ICF International, where he worked for more than a decade. Silva said his years at ICF have prepared him on "a couple of levels," as he’s done work in both the private sector and for the federal government.

Silva’s experience at ICF made him the "perfect candidate" to help grow the social marketing base out of DC, added Mathias.

Some of Silva’s objectives are to diversify and grow the base and figure out how to apply social marketing tactics that were successful in health to energy environment issues.

He said when he was doing work for issues such as HIV/AIDS or breast cancer, clients from the energy and environment sector were interested in finding out how they could spark action and create changes in behavior.

During his time at ICF, Silva led a public diplomacy program launch on behalf of the US Department of State called The US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research.

Silva said Nancy Caplan was appointed acting head of energy marketing at ICF after his departure. Caplan was not immediately available for comment.